Shameless politicians' corner

This, from the Turkish Daily News:


"Forestry and Waterworks Minister Veysel Eroğlu had called on [pop singer] Tarkan to help drum up support for hydroelectric power plants in the Black Sea region as part of a public-relations campaign.
“Therefore we are starting a promotional campaign to create public awareness about the uses of hydropower plants… We will ask Tarkan to take part in our campaign by writing a song about Solaklı Valley [in the Black Sea province of Trabzon],” Eroğlu had said".

Tarkan (note the all important 'n') is not keen - “It would be something beyond ironic, something funny for someone who is against hydroelectric [power] plants to write a song about hydroelectric plants,” the singer said".

That is something of a shame, in that there would be much hilarity if Cameron could persuade whoever is hot this week (1) to record a ditty about charter schools, the big society, devolved responsibility etc.  Maybe there are some songs extant that could be re-worked.....








A bit of digging shows that Eroglu is not lacking in hinterland - Prof. Dr. Veysel Eroğlu is married and has 4 children. He speaks English. He has a large number of hobbies and interests, which include the art of marbled paper, swimming, diving, reading and the art of calligraphy. He is a member of the Istanbul Council, the Waters Foundation (SU VAKFI), the History and Nature Foundation (TATAV), the Turkish Hematological Association (THD), the Turkish National Committee on Water Pollution Research (SKATMK), the Civil Engineering Association (IMO) and İSKİ Sports Club.

Crikey. 

Similarly, when not singing and not being antithetical to hydro-electricity, Tarkan leads a rich and full life:

"In January 2001, Tarkan joined a global brand and became the first Pepsi spokesperson in Turkey....According to hairdressers, his Kuzu Kuzu hairstyle is still the most frequently requested style in the salons of Turkey.  

His former squeeze has quite a name - Bilge Öztürk.  This is rendered still more droll by her being a lawyer.     




(1) Being too old for the charts etc, I don't have a clue who's in and who's out and therefore will not risk making myself a laughing stock by naming names.

Gloriously appropriate abbeviation o' the day.

This, from the Turkish Daily News, is far too good not to share:

"Students who throw eggs during protests will receive a disciplinary warning for “polluting the environment,” according to changes set to be made to the student discipline regulations for universities.  According to the changes by the Higher Education Board, or YÖK, the severity of the penalty will be determined by the number of eggs thrown".